XXXI. at length oppreffed by multitudes, this band of CHAP. heroes deferved the efteem, without exciting the compaffion, of their enemies; and the lion was no fooner taken in the toils 53, than he was inftantly dispatched. The death of Sarus diffolved the loofe alliance which Adolphus ftill maintained with the ufurpers of Gaul. He again liftened to the dictates of love and prudence; and foon fatisfied the brother of Placidia, by the affurance that he would immediately tranfmit, to the palace of Ravenna, the heads of the two tyrants, Jovinus and Sebastian. The king of the Goths executed his promife without difficulty or delay: the helpless brothers, unfupported by any perfonal merit, were abandoned by their barbarian auxiliaries; and the fhort oppofition of Valentia was expiated by the ruin of one of the nobleft cities of Gaul. The emperor, chofen by the Roman fenate, who had been promoted, degraded, infulted, reftored, again degraded, and again infulted, was finally abandoned to his fate: but when the Gothic king withdrew his protection, he was restrained, by pity or contempt, from offering any violence to the perfon of Attalus. The unfortunate Attalus, who was left without fubjects or allies, embarked in one of the ports of Spain, in fearch of fome fecure and fo 153 The expreffion may be understood almoft literally; Olympi odorus fays, μολις σακκοις εζώγρησαν. Σακκος (οι σακος) may agnify a fack, or a loose garment; and this method of entangling and catching an enemy, laciniis contortis, was much practifed by the Huns (Ammian. xxxi. 2.). Il fut pris vif avec des filets, is the tranf lation of Tillemont, Hift. des Empereurs, tom, v. p. 6 .608. XXXI. CHAP. litary retreat: but he was intercepted at fea, con* ducted to the prefence of Honorius, led in triumph through the streets of Rome or Ravenna, and publicly expofed to the gazing multitude, on the second step of the throne of his invincible conqueror. The fame measure of punishment, with which, in the days of his profperity, he was accused of menacing his rival, was inflicted on Attalus himself: he was condemned, after the amputation of two fingers, to a perpetual exile in the ifle of Lipari, where he was supplied with the decent neceffaries of life. The remainder of the reign of Honorius was undisturbed by rebellion; and it may be observed, that, in the space of five years, seven ufurpers had yielded to the fortune of a prince, who was himself incapable either of counsel or of action. The fituation of Spain, feparated, on all fides, from the enemies of Rome, by the fea, by the mountains, and by intermediate provinces, had fecured the long tranquillity of that remote and fequeftered country; and we may observe, as a fure symptom of domeftic happiness, that, in a period of four hundred years, Spain furnished very few materials to the hiftory of the Roman empire. The footsteps of the Barbarians, who, in the reign of Gallienus, had penetrated beyond the Pyrenees, were foon obliterated by the return of peace; and in the fourth century of the Chriftian æra, the cities of Emerita or Merida, of Corduba, Seville, Bracara, and Tarragona, were numbered with the moft illuftrious of the Roman world. XXXI. world. The various plenty of the animal, the CHAP. vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms, was improved and manufactured by the skill of an industrious people; and the peculiar advantages of naval ftores contributed to fupport an extensive and profitable trade 15+. The arts and scjences flourished under the protection of the emperors; and if the character of the Spaniards was enfeebled by peace and fervitude, the hostile approach of the Germans, who had fpread terror and defolation from the Rhine to the Pyrenees, feemed to rekindle some sparks of military ardour. As long as the defence of the mountains was entrufted to the hardy and faithful militia of the country, they fuccefsfully repelled the frequent attempts of the Barbarians. But no fooner had the national troops been compelled to refign their poft to the Honorian bands, in the fervice of Conftantine; than the gates of Spain were treacherously betrayed to the public enemy, about ten months before the fack of Rome by the Goths". The consciousness of guilt, and the 154 Without recurring to the more ancient writers, I fhall quote three refpectable testimonies which belong to the fourth and seventh centuries; the Expofitio totius Mundi (p. 16. in the third volume of Hudfon's Minor Geographers), Aufonius (de Claris Urbibus, p. 242. edit. Toll.), and Ifidore of Seville (Præfat. ad Chron. ap. Grotium, Hist. Goth. p. 707.). Many particulars relative to the fertility and trade of Spain, may be found in Nonnius, Hifpania Illuftrata, and in Huet, Hift. du Commerce des Anciens, c. 40. p. 228-234. 155 The date is accurately fixed in the Fafti, and the Chronicle of Idatius: Orofius (1. vii. c. 40. p. 578.) imputes the lofs of Spain to the treachery of the Honorians; while Sozomen (1. ix. c. 12.) accuses only their negligence. 352 XXXI. << The CHAP. thirst of rapine, prompted the mercenary guards of the Pyrenees to defert their station; to invite the arms of the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Alani; and to fwell the torrent which was poured with irresistible violence from the frontiers of Gaul to the fea of Africa. The misfortunes of Spain may be defcribed in the language of its moft eloquent hiftorian, who has concifely expreffed the paffionate, and perhaps exaggerated, declamations of contemporary writers 15. << irruption of these nations was followed by the "moft dreadful calamities: as the Barbarians << exercised their indifcriminate cruelty on the « fortunes of the Romans and the Spaniards; "and ravaged with equal fury the cities and the "open country. The progrefs of famine re<duced the miferable inhabitants to feed on the «flesh of their fellow-creatures; and even the "wild beafts, who multiplied, without controul, " in the defert, were exafperated, by the taste "of blood, and the impatience of hunger, boldly "to attack and devour their human prey. Pef"tilence foon appeared, the infeparable compa«nion of famine; a large proportion of the peo"ple was swept away; and the groans of the « dying excited only the envy of their furviving "friends. At length the Barbarians, fatiated "with carnage and rapine, and afflicted by the contagious evils which they themselves had "introduced, fixed their permanent seats in the 156 Idatius wishes to apply the Prophecies of Daniel to these national calamities; and is therefore obliged to accommodate the circumstances of the event to the terms of the prediction. << depopu σε depopulated country. The ancient Gallicia, "whofe limits included the kingdom of Old "Caftille, was divided between the Suevi and "the Vandals; the Alani were scattered over "the provinces of Carthagena and Lufitania, "from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean ; " and the fruitful territory of Boetica was allotted "to the Silingi, another branch of the Vandalic << nation. After regulating this partition, the "conquerors contracted with their new fubjects fome reciprocal engagements of protection and "obedience: the lands were again cultivated; " and the towns and villages were again occupied by a captive people. The greatest part of the Spaniards was even difpofed to prefer this new condition of poverty and bar"barism, to the fevere oppreffions of the Roman government; yet there were many who ftill "afferted their native freedom; and who refused, "more especially in the mountains of Gallicia, "to fubmit to the Barbarian yoke """." CHA P. XXXI. the Goths, The important prefent of the heads of Jovinus Adolphus, and Sebastian, had approved the friendship of king of Adolphus, and reftored Gaul to the obedience of marches into Spain, his brother Honorius. Peace was incompatible A.D.414. with the fituation and temper of the king of the Goths. He readily accepted the propofal of turn : 157 Mariana de Rebus Hifpanicis, 1. v. c. 1. tom. i. p. 148. Hag. Comit. 1733. He had read, in Òrosius (1. vii. c. 41. p. 579.), that the Barbarians had turned their fwords into ploughshares and that many of the Provincials preferred, inter Barbaros pauperem libertatem quam inter Romanos tributariam folicitudinem fuftinere. VOL. V. A a ing |